Dark Side of the Sun
by Rhino7
Summary: When civilization fails, resolution falls solely on the shoulders of war.


**Dark Side of the Sun**

**By Rhino7**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or storyline. This little ditty is mine. So, don't take this as a fic at all. There is no real plot. This oneshot was written for the sole purpose of testing out my battle writing. I really wanted to just write something violent, some sort of big fight scene, and this sorta happened. Who doesn't love Sora versus Riku? **

**I tried to keep it realistic, but bear with me if it gets a little unbelievable in parts. It's what happens when I listen to The Battle from the Chronicles of Narnia soundtrack over and over and over again. Please let me know how and where I need to improve on combat terms/writing/etc. I tried out a few different styles. Keep it constructive, please. Thanks and enjoy!**

**..:--X--:..**

The battle of light and darkness did not transpire on a bloody battlefield. It did not take place amidst a hundred terrified onlookers. It did not come to pass by the hands of a thousand soldiers. No, when the gauntlet was finally thrown and the blows exchanged, they were exchanged between two boys, two men, on one small island on a world with a name no one would remember until afterwards.

Sora held his Keyblade steady, in rigid, white knuckled fingers.

There was no dramatic eclipse. The opponents did not circle each other like caged animals. There were no words. No monologues. No apologies. There was only blood, and the solid, compact sound of flesh colliding harshly with flesh and metal.

Riku stood loose, keeping his eyes on Sora, on his every movement.

In a way, it was poetic. The end of the war balanced on the shoulders of the two boys, the two men, the two who could have been called brothers. Except they weren't brothers, and they certainly weren't friends. At least not anymore.

Sora swallowed, his throat bobbing with the motion, his mouth dry. He stared coolly at Riku until the older boy met his eyes, and he forced him to hold his gaze.

The rain fell in a lazy drizzle, and the sand soaked up the moisture like an insatiable lover. The drops avoided the heated bodies of Kingdom Hearts' soldiers. Instead, the water allowed them both a berth of a meter or so, kept at bay by the light and darkness respectively emanating from either of them. The waves rolled against the shoreline, unaffected by the electric stalemate between the two Keybearers. After the battle was fought, the tide would continue to ebb and flow, rise and recede. Time would not still for them. The moment was just another thread in the tapestry of history.

Riku summoned Way to the Dawn, the accompanying crackle of light reflecting in the pale blue depths of his eyes. The iron curtain between them swayed with the motion, and Sora lowered his chin in acknowledgement.

There were no more words that needed to be spoken. No more reasoning to be done. No more pleading or begging. Diplomacy had failed. Democracy had failed. When civilization fails, resolution falls solely on the shoulders of war. We regress to the only method of compromise that naturally occurs. We fight, we damage our enemies' bodies, and we don't pull back until the last whines of surrender are hissed through pain-clenched jaws.

We don't have to like it.

The rain fell in a deluge, hissing and splintering against the furls of darkness and the crackling tendrils of light surrounding the warriors.

Sora lifted his Keyblade, the oily silver blade glistening as the rain formed a humid fog around it. He had tried for months to talk sense into his friend. Riku had made it clear, however, that he had chosen his path, and it was one Sora could not follow or condone.

Riku mimicked Sora's motions. Sora would not be swayed. He had learned that. They stood at an impasse, and deep down, he resented Sora for his weakness, his pathetic dedication to the light, his divine-like faith in Kingdom Hearts and his friends.

Neither made the first move. Riku held Way to the Dawn at arms' length. Keeping his eyes on Sora's, he touched his blade to the Keyblade of light. Leaning forward, tauntingly, he rolled the sword down the length of Sora's Keyblade, drawing it back on the other side.

Sora drew his Keyblade back, deferring from Riku's threatening advance. Smiling tightly, Riku moved to hold Way to the Dawn more firmly, standing back and finding a fresh footing in the packed, wet sand of the shore.

They attacked in unison, closing the gap with charges in sync from years of training together. Sora pushed from the sand, drawing the Keyblade over his shoulder and swinging down in a tight arc. Reading him like a book, Riku side stepped the blow and brought Way to the Dawn up to parry with the attack, catching the weight of Sora's blow with a one-armed block.

As soon as the Keyblade connected with Keyblade, Sora withdrew, pulling into a quick block just as Riku swung Way to the Dawn around, narrowly avoiding the teeth of the dark Keyblade sinking into his ribs.

The force of Riku's attack pushed Sora's feet against the sand, and he reset his footing and shoved against the Keyblade, knocking Riku's arm aside. Riku pulled his arm back, launching his other fist forward. A ball of undulating, bright blue darkness flowed from his palm, sizzling across the exposed skin of Sora's left arm.

With a half-stifled grunt, Sora rolled hard to his right, away from the salty burn. His arm contacted the coarse, grating sand, suffocating the blue flames. He rolled back up to his feet, just in time to block another arching blow that would have sliced his knees out from under him.

In retaliation, he caught the blade of Way to the Dawn in the teeth of his own Keyblade and ripped the sword backwards. Riku's grip held and he was bodily dragged forward. Sora slapped his palm against Riku's chest and let loose an Aeroga Spell.

The wind flowed through the trees at his beckoning and tore Riku away from the beach, sending him careening into the wooden supports around the smaller paopu island off the coast. He sank to his feet in the shallow water, the waves rolling around his ankles. Way to the Dawn diminished in his hand.

Sora did not advance, bracing himself.

Riku hunched his shoulders, fists clenched at his sides, jaw muscles working. Deep purple furls of darkness seeped into the water around him and caused the waves to buck and roll unnaturally, gathering in murky walls on either side of the silver haired Keybearer.

Sora watched the walls of water rise and dug his heels into the sand embankment. He held the Keyblade ready in one hand. His other hand remained hovering over the handle of the sword, awaiting commands from his brain.

Riku shifted footing into that of a baseball pitcher. Drawing back, he stepped forward in one fluid motion, flinging one arm towards Sora, fingers outstretched. The black walls of water flowed forward obediently, rushing in a foamy shadow towards the boy on the beach.

Sora's back leg twitched, but he waited a second longer than instinct told him to in order to react. His shoulder rolled as he drew his free hand in front of him, a crackle of magic buzzing down his arm as he lifted his fingers to the sky.

In response, a thick wall of sand broke the surface of the shore, rising several meters into the air, forming a solid shield between Sora and the ride of darkness-infused water. The wave smashed against the sand with a grinding sound and the ground under Sora's feet shuddered with the impact.

The sand wall held, but water gurgled and spread around the wide base of the wall, dissolving the strength of the structure. Sora dropped his arm and drove the Keyblade into the center of the wall, infusing the sand with a silent Wind Spell. The sudden wind blasted the sand wall apart, sending chunks of wet and chunky sand at Riku, who stood now at the waterline.

Riku summoned a curved Dark Aura to surround him, blocking all of the sand projectiles. Casting the attack aside, he opened his palm and Way to the Dawn flashed obediently into his hands. Adrenaline pumping, he launched forward, through the haze of falling sand, and connected the broad side of his Keyblade with Sora's shoulder.

The force behind the blow flung Sora off his feet and into the trepid waterfall several meters behind him. His back collided with the solid rock wall and he fell bonelessly into the shallow pool. The Keyblade disappeared as he fell forward on hands and knees, refusing to fall completely to his front.

Riku stepped delicately from the water to the sand, slowly approaching the shaken body of his former friend. The rain fell in droves, overpowering the dark aura around him, soaking his hair, clothes, and rolling in streams down his face.

Sora felt blood run down his arm and drip into the clear water of the pool. He raised hazy eyes to see Riku advancing at a walking pace. Gathering shaky knees under him, Sora rose slowly to his feet, blinking blood and water from his eyes, clearing his vision. The pain thudded dully across his collar. Rolling his neck, Sora climbed from the pond and onto the high ground, facing Riku.

The palm trees swayed to and fro in the aftermath of the Wind Spell, their leaves glistening heavily under the rain fall. The water fell in sheets from the canopies, trickling through the gnarled bark and roots of the towering trees.

Way the Dawn held a crimson gleam to the broad side of the blade, and some of the blood had splattered across Riku's hand around the handle. Sora summoned the Keyblade Oblivion and reeled back before slinging the blade at Riku as hard as he could.

Riku's eyes widened minimally at the approaching sword, singing through the air at a fierce velocity. He raised Way to the Dawn to block it just as Sora summoned a second Keyblade, Divine Rose, and ran forward, holding the sword ready. Riku blocked Oblivion in the air as Sora swung around for a thrust to Riku's hip.

Reflexes dropped Riku's arm, his free hand wrapping around Sora's wrist and stopping him in mid-swing. His fingers clenched around the delicate carpal bones and he knew he could crush them if he only squeezed. Instead, he turned curtly and dragged Sora with him, lifting him enough to slam Sora on his back on the sand.

All the air left Sora's lungs in a rush and ribs cracked as Riku pressed his weight against his hand, pinioning Sora's sword-hand to his side. Stars dancing in his eyes, Sora jerked his knee up into Riku's ribs, sitting up fast enough to smash his forehead into Riku's throat.

Riku's grip faltered but his instincts didn't. As Sora rolled out of his grasp, Riku jumped to his feet, coughing through the damage to his throat and feeling the cool steel of Way to the Dawn in his hands. Sora took a second longer to get to his feet, blood blossoming freely down his arm and the skin above his right eye broken and bloody.

Sora's eyes flashed to Way to the Dawn and immediately Oathkeeper was in his hands. Riku lunged forward, dragging his Keyblade high overhead and drawing downward. Sora blocked the blow close enough to feel the wave of black energy against his face. He reinforced the block with one hand on the end of the blade, shoving Riku away from him.

As Riku found his footing, Sora pulled into a full 360 swing, the teeth of Oathkeeper dragging through the flesh at Riku's collar. The tip of the blade continued through his cheek and narrowly avoided gouging out his right eye. Riku jerked away from the sharp pain, flecks of blood dashing the sun-bleached sand beside him.

Sora wasted no time this round and dove forward, contacting his uninjured shoulder firmly into Riku's solar plexus. He tackled Riku to the sand and landed a solid, knuckled punch to Riku's jaw before a knee found the small of his back and he was thrown over Riku to land in the shallows of the water.

Riku rolled to his knees, sand coating his back. He turned his head to the side and spat out a mouthful of sticky blood. Feeling the hot blood navigating down his face, Riku gritted his teeth angrily and lifted a hand. Coils of blackness crackled across the air and latched around Sora's torso. Riku tore Sora from the water and flung the darkness like an elastic band. The blackness smashed Sora into the supports of the wooden pier.

The supports splintered and momentum forced Sora through the supports on the opposite side, crashing through them and displacing one of their derelict rowing boats. Sora bobbed limply in the water and Riku released his dark hold on the body, letting Sora sag against the jagged wood. Pink curled into the water around the body.

Riku stalked around the shattered pier like a preying animal. When his boots contacted the salty water, a crystal lattice of ice formed under him, keeping him above the surface of the shallows. Sora's Keyblade was gone, banished by its wielder's unconsciousness. Riku wiped the back of one hand across his stinging face, ridding his eyes and leaking blood.

Ice formed thickly under the shallows, deeper than Riku intended and he realized a moment too late that Sora was not unconscious. The ice thickened and ran up the lengths of Riku's legs, wrapping painfully around his thighs and locking him in place. It felt like knives of cold had attacked the marrow of his bones and he faltered.

Sora sat up wearily, worse for wear from the blow, but not severely weakened. He stood and faced Riku wordlessly, like a predator arachnid overseeing the latest prey trapped in its web. As he narrowed his eyes, the ice tightened its hold around Riku's knees and Riku distinctly felt his left ankle dislocate.

Fed up, Riku forced a short burst of lightning into the ice. The frozen water shattered as the electricity forked through it in sharp-angled branches. Sora back stepped out of the line of fire and cast a temporary shield spell to block any ice shards that Riku sent his way.

Riku landed deliberately on his unhindered ankle, his dislocated one throbbing with his pulse. Biting his lip, he cast a quick cure spell to mend it. The joint popped back into place and he rolled his ankle around a few times, maneuvering around the ruined pier to face Sora again, Way to the Dawn warm in his hands.

Sora held Lionhart in one hand. His eyebrows were pinched together in fierce concentration and Riku saw a vein in his neck standing out. He let instinct take over and fell into a ready stance. Sora's free hand flexed white knuckles and Bond of Flamed flashed obediently into his open palm. Sora visibly sagged with the effort of summoning a second Keyblade, and Riku took full advantage.

Riku released Way to the Dawn and as it disappeared, he launched two winding ribbons of darkness from his arms. The branches of blackness shot across the open beach and wrapped around Sora's forearms. Riku bit back the burning sensation of pure light against his mind, but he pushed back harder, ripping Sora's arms perpendicular to his body, Keyblades and all.

Sora cried out at his wounded shoulder was pulled, but both Keyblades remained intact in either hand. Riku heard the tones of pain in his voice and pulled harder at the darkness, watching as Sora's shoulder was slowly rotated out of the socket. Sora screamed, a voice-cracking scream, and threw his head back, exposing his throat.

The opportunity was not lost on Riku, and he mentally held Sora in the air by the darkness, summoning Way to the Dawn again and rushing forward. Sora's head lolled forward, his shoulder half out of the socket, held crucifixion-style in the air by the dark bindings. He lifted his head high enough to see Riku jump up into the air, Keyblade drawing up to aim at his heart.

Gripping either Keyblade, Sora blocked out the sight and focused on summoning Valor Form. Pain rippled down his body as the energy was drained to summon the Form. The red electricity immediately crackled down his arms and legs, licking at the oily purple shackles around his wrists. Valor Form released and a fresh surge of adrenaline coursed through Sora's blood.

The energy wave emitted by Valor Form's summoning knocked Riku off course. He angled back toward the sand and lifted Way to the Dawn just in time to block Bond of Flame. Sora followed the sword out of the haze of red, electric fog, his eyes dark and furious. Riku shoved him back and threw a dark blast at him.

Sora deflected it with Lionhart and swung again with Bond of Flame, aiming squarely for Riku's neck. Riku blocked again, but the force behind the blow knocked him back and off balance. Teetering for a moment, he lifted one foot. Sora immediately swept his other leg out from under him, sending him to his back on the sand.

Riku felt the breath leave his lungs, but he kept a hard grip over his Keyblade. Sora advanced on him menacingly, all reluctance had fled from his eyes.

Now the battle truly started.

The sand sizzled under the angry energy popping under the weight of the Keybearer of light, and Sora kept his chin lowered, eyes narrowed, Bond of Flame in one hand, Lionhart in the other. Riku remained on his back, fingers clenched in the sand, Way to the Dawn at his side. He didn't plead and he didn't try to bargain. Reason had lost its meaning here.

Without muttering the incantation, Sora leaned forward, impressing a third degree gravity spell on Riku. The air itself pushed down on his body, compressing the sand underneath him as he was pressed against it. Riku was completely immobilized.

Instead of trying to fight the spell, Riku swallowed hard and mustered up a spell that raised a wall of sand a meter thick on either side of Sora. The walls shot out of the sand just as enthusiastically as they had when Sora summoned his own sand shield earlier. Sora was momentarily distracted and the gravity spell slackened its hold minimally. It was all Riku needed.

He clenched his free fist and the sand walls rushed together, closing the gap and effectively making a Sora Sandwich. Except that it didn't crush him. Sora flicked Bond of Flame in a split second twist, and a fire spell encircled him, fueled by the rush of energy from Valor Form. Fire erupted around Sora's body, blocking all of the sand.

The sand contacted the intense heat of the fire and turned to shiny, brittle glass, which flew in filmy shards around Sora for a moment before shooting off in all directions, embedding themselves in the shoreline around the two warriors.

As the rest of the sand fell away, Riku broke the gravity spell and jumped to his feet, spinning around and landing his heel into Sora's ribs. As he felt several ribs crack and give at the blow, Sora's hands were suddenly around his ankle. Sora saw the surprise in Riku's eyes and didn't falter. He twisted until the ankle cracked and he flung Riku into the shallows of the water.

Before he could react, Riku was face first in the ocean. He tasted salt and it burned in his open wounds. He pushed himself to his feet just as Sora slammed Lionhart into the water, releasing a second degree thunder spell. The lightning branched through the water and surrounded Riku, penetrating his skin and overriding the nerve endings in his body.

It was Riku's turn to scream.

Thinking quickly despite the intense pain, Riku pulled into a quick wind spell that projected him out of the water by several meters. As the tingling in his skin faded, Riku fell back down slowly, his boots lighting just inches above the water, protected by the dark aura now surrounding him.

Back on the shore, Valor Form flickered and faded, leaving Sora drained and vulnerable. He stood rigid, watching Riku as he stood on the water, his clothes singed from the electrocution, but looking no more damaged than that. Sora's reserves were low. He needed time.

Oathkeeper appeared and he clenched it with both of his trembling hands, resuming his old battle stance out of habit. The rain pounded down on them both, obscuring their vision and compromising their attacks. Riku glared across the distance of the shallows, daring Sora to attack. Sora remained where he was, well aware of his own limits by now.

From his safe position, Riku watched Sora falter. Now the stronger of the two duelists was truly shining. Sora had always had heart and compassion, but Riku had power and strength. Heart could only give you so much. Clenching a fist, Riku watched Sora's head whip around as half a dozen of Riku's Heartless Neos materialized, morphing out of the sudden pools of blackness on the sun whitened sand.

Sora's surprise quickly changed into a charged, hunched shouldered stance and he turned back around to face Riku, his eyes glaring one word across the impasse between them.

Coward.

The Neos attacked on impulse alone and under no orders. Sora jerked Oathkeeper through a fast waist-height arc, slicing through the bellies of three Neos. They fell in gurgling masses of black smoke. The remaining three converged on the Keybearer and also sank into the teeth of the Keyblade. Sora felt his ether levels rise each time the Keyblade cut through resistance, and before the remaining Neos could fully dissolve, he threw an arm towards Riku and pushed.

The ocean retreated, the tide receding in such a mass that much of the sand went with it, doubling back in a violent reverse that dropped Riku to the loamy soil of the shallows' floor. The ocean foamed and gurgled behind him, held at bay by the light force from Sora's spell.

Riku felt the soil suck at his boots, but he didn't retract them. He faced Sora, Way to the Dawn in hand, waiting for the attack. The attack did not come. Sora remained where he was, outside the eclipsing shadow of the raging ocean wall behind Riku, which was now blocking out the dull gray rays of light fighting past the storm clouds on the horizon.

The rain had unleashed all of its fury on the island, and now it stood down, the soggy clouds swirling overhead, but no longer releasing a deluge over the soldiers. Sora lowered his arm and Oathkeeper disappeared, leaving the younger Keybearer unarmed and unprotected. Sora was always protected, and Riku did not take the bait. For a moment, they just stared at each other.

Then Sora lifted his hand in a beckoning gesture, arm fully extended toward Riku, invitingly, daringly, pleadingly, tauntingly.

Riku had no choice but to react. Summoning Way to the Dawn, he swept it out around his body, casting a wordless spell. Immediately, the sand on the shore began to shift. Sora's gaze didn't waver from Riku's as the sand was displaced. The jagged, rocky plates of the island's foundation were forcefully pulled up from the floor of the island and drawn up in sloping angles from under the sand. Trees shuddered and bowed beyond the shore.

Sora was forced to break eye contact and look around for immediate danger. The stone plates shoved themselves out of the sand at Riku's beckoning, their jagged edges rushing out at dangerous speeds. Sora jumped up to avoid being cut in half by one and landed lightly on top of it, slightly off angle.

The cracking of the tectonic plates branched back and back, extending toward the mush of the drying shallows where Riku stood. Riku lowered his Keyblade and watched Sora's eyes widen as the plates reached the wall of ocean water, making the foamy crest gurgle and weaken.

Riku gritted his teeth. Furls of electric blackness rolled down his arms and across his torso, dripping down to the broken floor of the shallows. The darkness pooled at his feet and seeped into the cracks of the ocean floor like poison, trickling through the winding cracks and making its way to Sora at the shoreline.

Sora reacted immediately, summoning a dark bladed Keyblade that Riku recognized in horror. Riku's fist closed and he gasped involuntarily. The darkness continued to rush forward and Sora who gave Way to the Dawn a demanding thrust at the shore. The darkness obediently stopped under the blade of its master's sword, Riku's sword.

Riku flexed his fists, trying to summon Way to the Dawn. The blade quivered in Sora's hands, but it did not come to him. Sora's electric blue stare bored into Riku as he squinted, his other hand working furiously as he summoned Ultima Weapon.

The massive, multi-pronged Keyblade caught every ray of gray light and vibrated angrily in Sora's other hand. Keeping his eyes on Riku, Sora held Way to the Dawn out, drawing Ultima Weapon back over his head.

Riku cried out incoherently, placatingly. Sora wouldn't have it. Not this time. With a grunt, Sora swung Ultima Weapon down on the focal point of Way to the Dawn's blade. There was a roar like a thousand freight trains as the blade was severed. The hooked teeth of Way to the Dawn fell away from the slender body and handle of the rest of the sword. Ultima Weapon sank through the blade as though Way to the Dawn composed of only hot butter.

Darkness bubbled and escaped the ruined Keyblade in wisps of furious black smoke. The rest of the blade and the handle in Sora's hands trembled violently and Sora dropped it as if it had burned him. Immediately upon release, the remnants of the sword exploded in a ribbon of intense, violently blue energy.

Riku dropped to his knees as if he'd been stabbed. He extended a hand, trying to summon Way to the Dawn. There was nothing to summon, nothing to obey him, no weapon to appear in his hand. He was totally unarmed. His Keyblade was gone, dead. He had never felt so naked and vulnerable.

Sora had been blown back a few meters by the blast, and he was on his knees now, coughing up something that looked like blood. Ultima Weapon was in one hand, pressed into the sand, surrounded by skeletal shards of the island's tectonic plates.

Snarling, Riku reached out and summoned Ultima Weapon. In his moment of weakness, Sora lost control. Ultima Weapon flashed out of his hand and the smooth handle slid into Riku's palm. He felt a surge of power he hadn't felt in years. Lifting the blade, he looked at it with wide eyes, watched as the darkness seeped from his hand and infected the pure sword. The handle darkened, like a shadow was being cast over it.

Sora struggled to straighten himself out. Just as he lost Ultima Weapon, he lost control of his holding spell.

The wall of ocean water staggered as the spell flickered, and Riku hardly had time to look up before the waves came crashing down. The hot, salty foam cascaded down en masse. Riku disappeared under the foam, flattened to the ground by the force.

Sora got to his feet as the water rushed towards him. Having swallowed Riku, the rogue wave intended to overtake the other Keybearer as well. Sora dug his heels into the sand and flexed one hand. He groaned in pain as he summoned Final Form. The cool steel of Lionhart and Oblivion pressed against his back as the silvery tendrils of Final Form wrapped around his limbs. The energy wave accompanying the Form's release blasted into the water, blocking the primary impact of the wave.

As the initial blast of the ocean passed, Sora held his ground, rooted in place by Final Form's borrowed strength. Blinking into the assaulting water, Sora spotted Riku rag-dolling through the water, Ultima Weapon still clenched in his hand. Riku looked up as he was shoved toward Sora, saw him standing completely upright in the water.

Sora reached out and grabbed Riku's wrist as he was thrown by. The momentum carried Riku forward and Sora twisted and held on until the delicate carpal bones of Riku's wrist snapped and shattered. Ultima Weapon disappeared as Riku released it, crying out in a spray of bubbles at the pain.

It didn't stop there. Sora held onto Riku's crippled wrist and dragged him forward, allowing the water to rip him from his planted stance in the sand. Both Keybearers were forced forward by the water. Sora angled sideways and slung Riku around, slamming him into the rocky wall at the base of the Great Tree.

Riku hit the wall so hard the rocks broke apart and he continued into the murky tunnel that led to the Secret Place. The water pushed him farther in until he hit the worn wooden door inside the cave. As soon as his back flattened against the wall, the water stopped.

The raging water cut off its assault suddenly, receding from the tunnel and allowing Sora to walk through and into the cave on his own. Riku could see the wall of water being held at bay at the now ruined entryway. Sora continued to hold the water back, the spell now in place with Final Form in control.

Riku sagged against the door, forcing all remaining intimidation and danger into a stare. Sora crossed the cave quietly, all limp and swagger gone, his lip curling with indecision. Riku knew there was no indecision. Sora would have to kill him. Regardless of the last hour, Sora still looked reluctant to play executioner.

Slowly, Sora reached back and gripped both Keyblades in his hands, approaching Riku cautiously. He pulled them out, angling both swords to the muddy soil. Eyes cold and nearly glowing in the dim light of the cave, Sora lifted both Keyblades and paused before haphazardly tossing them to the dirt. The blades dissolved in two small flashes of light.

Riku looked at his former friend. Was Sora still that weak? Riku would have killed Sora. He knew he would have, without a thought, before continuing on to take over Kingdom Hearts, and lay it all to waste in darkness. Yet Sora still hesitated.

Final Form flickered but didn't disappear completely yet. He still had a minute or so of energy left. Then he'd be drained and Riku would be able to overpower him. Instead of striking him down while he had the upper hand, Sora did not kill him immediately.

Instead, Sora held out a hand and summoned another black Keyblade. It was the same Keyblade Riku had used on Maleficent, the same one Sora had used on himself. Riku considered, Sora intended to strike him down with his own former sword? It was almost poetic.

"Do it." Riku finally spoke, limbs immobilized by trembling weakness and lack of weapons.

The black Keyblade looked out of place and wrong in Sora's hand. Sora lifted it expertly and paused, the dark teeth of the sword hanging above the vulnerable spot on Riku's neck. The shaft of the blade shuddered and Final Form flickered again. Riku dropped his head.

He had given Sora a chance and Sora hadn't taken it.

As Final Form flickered once more, Riku gathered his legs under him. As soon as Final Form faded, Riku knocked the dark Keyblade aside and launched forward, his other hand finding Sora's neck as the other Keybearer crumpled under the sudden weakness left in the Form's wake.

Sora could put up little resistance as he was slammed into the ground, mud splattering in all directions. When he hit the cave floor, his body instinctively drew his legs up, kicking Riku over his head. Riku grabbed the black Keyblade, but Sora held on.

Riku rolled forward and ended up on his feet, one hand on either end of the Keyblade. Sora twisted to his knees, also keeping the Keyblade in a death grip. Riku grunted as his broken wrist refused to cooperate. He used his uninjured wrist to hoist the Keyblade higher, dragging Sora forward. As soon as Sora's feet gave an inch, Riku shoved forward, slamming Sora into the rock wall, the dull side of the blade pressing against his throat.

Sora gasped but held onto the handle of the blade, dropping the hilt and tearing the teeth of the sword down Riku's other arm. Blood gushed from the wound and Riku dropped the Keyblade. Furious, he burned through another cure spell and grabbed Sora by the neck with his newly healed wrist.

Riku bodily pulled Sora from the wall and slammed him into the floor again. Sora's head snapped back against the floor and his body fell momentarily limp. Riku took full advantage and pinned Sora to the floor, keeping one knee firmly pressed against his chest, one hand around his throat. He drew back and punched Sora hard across the face.

Sora jerked back to reality at the blow and tried to fight back only to find himself pinned to the muddy earth of the cave. Riku punched him in the face again, right at the temple. Then again in the jaw, the nose, the cheek, the neck, the ear, the eye, until Sora was choking on blood and coughing out teeth.

Riku drew back once more, Sora's blood splattered across his face and knuckles. Sora lay bloody and twitching under him and for the briefest of moments, Riku felt his old self revel in horror at what he'd done.

Then he was flying off Sora and the door to the heart of Destiny Islands had been flung open. Riku snapped to a stop, shackled in midair. Sora got to his feet, his own Cure Spell stitching the skin on his face back together. The black Keyblade flashed into his hand once more.

Without hesitation or trembling this time, Sora thrust the sword forward. The blade sank teeth deep into Riku's chest. Everything went cold and dark for Riku and he felt a harsh, biting wind rip at his torso.

Sora held the Keyblade in his former friend's chest, the wind from inside Destiny Islands' heart whipping around the cave. There was a deep, resonating click that echoed off the walls, and Sora ripped the sword backwards, out of Riku's chest. A ball of darkness was torn out with it.

He backed up several steps, staring as the darkness rolled and coiled into the shadow of a human body. He distinctly made out the large silhouette of Xehanort, finally torn free from Riku's body. Xehanort threw out both arms and released an inhuman screech as Riku collapsed to the mud behind.

Then, with an animalistic cry, Xehanort was ripped backwards, tendrils of light clawing out of Destiny Islands' heart, wrapping around the translucent body and dragging it back into the abyss. Sora stared with wide eyes as the silhouette crossed the threshold of the door to the heart of the world. All that remained of Xehanort dissolved in as soon as it passed beyond the door. The flash of light made Sora blink a few times.

The door swung forward of its own accord and slammed shut with a thud of finality. A deep, resonating click sounded from inside. The wind fell quiet and silence swallowed the cave. A single column of dim light filtered down through the hole in the cave's ceiling.

Adrenaline that had been keeping Sora going fled, and he fell to his knees in the mud. His shoulder ached and all of his limbs felt heavy. Riku didn't stir, on his stomach in the mud. Spitting out a mouthful of blood, Sora crawled over to his fallen friend and pressed two fingers against his neck.

Satisfied with the pulse that greeted his fingertips, Sora shook Riku's shoulder and pulled himself upright. When Riku didn't stir, Sora grimaced and looked at the door. It stood still and dark, giving no indication that it had been touched in the last fifty years. Swallowing, Sora wiped the back of one hand across his face before rolling Riku onto his back.

Riku was out cold. Making a face, Sora pulled the body into a sitting position and pulled Riku's arms over one of his shoulders. Shifting, Sora dragged Riku's body across his shoulders, balancing on one knee until he got a firm hold around his friend.

Knees wobbling, Sora stood, staggered once, and blinked away a dizzy spell. Riku grunted, but didn't stir from unconsciousness. Sora kept a firm hold on Riku's arms and legs, casting the door one last affirming look, before turning toward the tunnel that led out to the beach.

The water had receded back to the normal shoreline, leaving only salty foam at the base of the Great Tree. Sora's joints popped and his open wounds burned as he carried Riku toward the beach. The clouds had vastly detached from each other, drifting apart enough to let a few daring rays of sunlight push through to the sand.

The island looked like a true battlefield now. The foundation plates were still jutting up at broken angles. The pier was shattered. The pool at the base of the waterfall was tinted pink with blood and seaweed and debris was dangling off surfaces that shouldn't have been submerged in water.

Nearing the wet sand where the tide usually settled, Sora bent down until his knees cracked, dumping Riku unceremoniously to the sand. Back aching, Sora straightened and summoned the black Keyblade. It glinted darkly in his hands, almost burning the skin of his palm. Biting back a hiss, Sora focused hard and focused Ultima Weapon.

Riku didn't stir, oblivious to anything that was happening. Sora wished he could be the unconscious one at the moment, free from dealing with the immediate repercussions of what had just transpired. Instead, Sora was left with clean up detail. He was careful to back up several meters from his friend, until he was standing in the shallows amidst the splintered ruins of the pier.

Riku's words came back to him. Do it, he'd said. Do what? Strike him down? Kill him? Cut down in cold blood the closest person Sora had ever had to a brother? Had Riku intended to break him? Now that Xehanort and his black infection had been purged from Riku's heart, he was free from the evil that had tainted him since their journey started, before the war and before the Heartless. Do it, he'd pleaded. He'd actually begged.

Sora held both Keyblades out, biting his lip and wincing at the coppery blood still in his mouth. He lifted exhausted eyes to Riku, who was still stretched out on the sand. This was going to hurt, but it was the last piece in this messed up puzzle. Do it. Kill me. End this. Do it.

"No." Sora muttered.

Instantaneously, he ripped Ultima Weapon upwards in an arc, the blade slicing cleanly through the shaft of the dark Keyblade. With a shrieking hiss, the teeth fell away from the evil weapon and the handle trembled in Sora's hand. In a burst of black and purple light, the weapon exploded, knocking Sora back into the water. Ultima Weapon fell from his hands and disappeared.

Gathering his wits quickly, Sora jumped up and looked around, his body refusing to obey any faster than an old man's movements. The dark Keyblade was gone. It was over. Right? Sora was tentative to give in to that hope that had burned within him.

Sora walked back over to where Riku lay and sank down to the sand beside him. He hadn't hurt this badly since narrowly surviving the Chernabog. Groaning, he reclined to his back and closed his eyes against the slowly triumphing sunlight. Riku moaned in unconsciousness beside him.

Maybe he didn't have to dread or hope. Maybe for just a moment, he could be numb. Maybe, just maybe, he could pretend the last five years had never happened, and they were still on the same Destiny Islands they had grown up on. All the hurt, the betrayal, the blood, and the evil had never happened. Maybe he could be weak like that, but just for a moment.

For the first time in five years, Sora totally and completely relaxed.


End file.
